Friday, April 28, 2017

In 2015, the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova
Scotia created an ad hoc Elizabeth Bishop display in the sanctuary
of St. James Church in Great
Village. Pulled together
quickly, this display was meant to presage the permanent exhibit that the
society began to plan during the winter of 2016. It was located at the back of
the sanctuary. When some of the old pews were removed at the front, the display
boards were repositioned in the spot where the permanent exhibit would go.

(The sanctuary space before cleaning, with ad hoc display.Photo by Patti Sharpe)

In the fall of 2016, the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia initiated
its fund-raising efforts and began to prepare the space allotted to it for the
exhibit. The ad hoc display was dismantled and new track lighting was installed
in November.

(The new track lighting. Photo by Patti Sharpe.)

(The clearing and cleaning commenses. Photo by Laurie Gunn.)

As the Exhibit Committee discussed the issues, it was
decided to begin modestly and learn the capacity of the space. The committee
decided room to house not only a Bishop exhibit, which the committee entitled
“Elizabeth Bishop’s Beginnings,” but there was also room for a small art
gallery. Bishop’s immediate maternal family included two professional visual
artists and Bishop herself enjoyed painting, so an art gallery made sense. The
gallery component is called “Echoes of Elizabeth Bishop,” the same title used
for the collection of EB100 Writing Competition winners the EBSNS published in
2013 with Gaspereau Press.

The Exhibit Committee commissioned Great Village
woodworker and carpenter Garry Shears to build two display cabinets for the
exhibit, which he worked on over the winter of 2017. As soon the cabinets are
in hand, we will share photos of them. Garry is a fine craftsman and we know
these cabinets will be both beautiful and functional, the perfect containers
for the precious objects in the exhibit.

The committee decided that the first exhibition in the small
gallery would be work by Colchester
County artists, and
invitations were extended to a half a dozen local artists. Profiles of the
artists involved will appear on this blog in the weeks to come.

On 15 April 2017, the Exhibit Committee and some EBSNS board
members gathered in St. James Church to do additional preparation of the space.
During that session, it was decided that another pew needed to be removed, so
arrangements were made for that to happen.

(Clean-up day, April 2017. L. to r. Judith van Duren, Cathy Mazur,

Sandra Barry, deep in discussion. Photo by Laurie Gunn.)

(Laurie Gunn's hooked rug hanging is as colourful

as the stained glass windows. Photo by Laurie Gunn.)

In addition to the items on display, the EBSNS will also
sell some of its merchandise: our popular fridge magnet and postcard, for
example, and various books. To help with this aspect of the space, Garry Shears
has made a wooden lock-box.

(EBSNS magnet.)

The next post will explain the concept of “Elizabeth
Bishop’s Beginnings” Exhibit.

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

I owe Elizabeth Bishop a huge debt of gratitude for all the
amazing people she has brought into my life, directly or circuitously. Below is
one story — ongoing — of a fascinating connection.

********************

On Thursday, 10 May 2007, I received an email, out of the
blue, from the British poet Seán Street. Seán was at that time the director of The
Centre for Broadcasting History Research at Bournemouth
University in the UK. He also
worked for BBC Radio. He had recently been to Nova Scotia to do research for a radio
documentary about the Halifax Explosion, “The Splintered City,” where he met
historian Henry Roper. Seán wrote to me because a colleague of his, Paul Dodgson, was exploring the idea of doing a BBC Radio documentary about
Elizabeth Bishop and Great
Village. Seán “asked
Henry if he knew of someone who could furnish information about EB, and he
immediately named you [meaning me].” (Thank you so much Henry!!) As it turned
out, Paul Dodgson and writer Lavinia Greenlaw came to Nova Scotia in September 2008 and spent a
week at the Elizabeth Bishop House, out of which came their documentary, “As
Big As Life,” broadcast that November on BBC Radio 3.

(Seán Street.)

I asked Seán how he became interested in the Explosion and
he said that he had heard about it in detail when he was in Newfoundland in 2005 doing another
documentary, “The Fisheries Broadcast,” which aired not only on BBC Radio but
also CBC Radio. Hearing this, I immediately asked him if he had ever heard
ofSable Island
and suggested it might be a good subject for another documentary. Over the next
couple of years, Seán and I corresponded. He kindly sent me a copy of Time Between Tides: New and Selected Poems
1981–2009, in which are some wonderful poems inspired by his time in Newfoundland.

In the summer of 2009, Seán and his producer Julian May came
to Halifax where they met with Henry and me, and
a number of other people, to talk about Sable Island.
I had put them in touch with Zoe Lucas, the reigning expert on the island. For
several days, they tired valiantly to get out to Sable Island,
but the weather did not cooperate. Thick fog shrouded the island for the entire
time they were in Nova Scotia.
Their documentary, in part a testament to how difficult it is to get to Sable Island,
aired that fall.

Being a fan of Elizabeth Bishop’s work, they took time to go
to Great Village and explore some of Bishop’s
“motherland,” while they waited. This visit triggered a lovely poem, “Great Village,
1953”: “Time shaping a long hurt through memory earned ….”

I had a couple of opportunities to see Seán and Julian
during their 2009 visit. It was wonderful finally to meet Seán, after a couple
of years of corresponding. I remember a particularly lively conversation about
poetry that we had in the bar at the Prince George Hotel, imbibing some
expensive Scotch!

In recent years, Seán has published a trilogy of prose books
about sound aesthetics, the most recent is due out soon from Palgrave, Sound Poetics: Interaction and Personal
Identity. In 2013 his collection of poetry Cello was published. He kindly sent that one to me, too.

On Monday, 24 April 2017, I had an email from Seán to say
that he had been reading Bishop’s “At the Fishhouses” and just wanted to touch
base. This began a lovely exchange during which he told me that he has
published two more poetry collections: Camera
Obscura (2016) and Talk, Radio: Poems
of Transmission, which will be out this week! He also told me that he,
Liverpool musician and composer Neil Campbell, and singer Perri Allyne-Hughes have
collaborated on a CD, Estuary, based
on poems from Time Between Tides and Cello, including his wonderful,
Bishop-esque poem “Sestina: Fog, Halifax Harbour,” with its end-words: silence,
memory, island, ignites, thought, fog.

With all his Atlantic Canadian connections, I thought it
would be nice to share Seán’s exciting news with our readers. The CD will be
launched on 18 May in Liverpool and will
include a performance by the principals, doing the new work, as well as
previous collaborations. Congratulations Seán! You can see/hear a video from Estuary here.

Sunday, April 23, 2017

AS the many visitors from all over the world attest, Great Village
itself is a memorial to the life, art and legacy of Elizabeth Bishop. If Bishop
could return to this community in the twenty-first century, she would find that
much has changed, of course (she knew change was inevitable); but she would
also recognize much that has remained — the topography and geography, the built
heritage, the spirit of the people.

Bishop was not born in Great Village.
She lived there continuously for only a brief period of time. But the time she spent
in Great Village during her childhood was
profound and pivotal to her life and art. As Bishop wrote, “Something needn’t
be large to be good.” This small village had a large impact on one of the most
important poets of the twentieth century.

Not only did the place itself imprint on her mind and
imagination, but also her maternal family and the residents of the village. It
must be remembered that Great
Village was larger and
more bustling at the turn of the twentieth century than it is in the early
twenty-first century. There was a great deal of cultural and economic activity
for Bishop to experience.

The Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova
Scotia has spent nearly a quarter century recognizing and
celebrating the importance of Great
Village and maternal
family to the life and art of Elizabeth Bishop. One of the ways it has done so
is through exhibits.

Elizabeth Bishop Exhibits of the past:

The first Elizabeth Bishop exhibit in Great Village
took place in 1992, in St. James United Church, before the EBSNS had come into existence. It was mounted as
part of the celebration that saw a Bishop memorial plaque placed on the church.

At that point, Bishop’s first cousin Phyllis Sutherland
loaned some of her extensive family archive.

(1992 exhibit)

This material was eventually catalogued and sold to the Province of Nova Scotia,
with the help of the EBSNS and Acadia
University, where the
material was deposited.

(1992 exhibit)

After the EBSNS came into existence, it was involved in a
number of exhibits about Bishop’s connections to Nova Scotia. The first occurred on 10 June
1995, also in the church, in conjunction with the Elizabeth Bishop Memorial Lecture, delivered by
Thomas Travisano.

(l. to r. Sandra Barry, John Barnstead and

Peter Sanger in front of part of the 1995 exhibit.)

The next exhibit occurred in September 1998 at Acadia University,
in conjunction with the Elizabeth Bishop Symposium, “Divisions of the Heart.”
By this time, the Bulmer family archive was at the Esther Clark Wright Archives
and the exhibit was set up in the Kirkconnell Room.

In 2007 the EBSNS collaborated with the Colchester Historeum in Truro, N.S., to mount an
extensive exhibit about Bishop and her Great Village
connections, curated by Sandra Barry and Elinor Maher. This exhibit ran through
the summer and had many visitors. In June 2007, the EBSNS and the Great Village
Historical Society had unveiled the pergola and the initial historical panels,
which were about Elizabeth Bishop, a very public “exhibit.”

A natural evolution:

During the Elizabeth Bishop Centenary in 2011, the EBSNS set
up a small display about Bishop and EB100 at the Truro Library.

(The Bishop and EB100 Display at the Truro Library, 2011)

EB100 activities and the subsequent legacy projects took
most of the time, energy and resources of the EBSNS from 2010 to 2013; but once
this activity eased, the EBSNS board began to ponder its next projects. When
the St. James Church Preservation Society offered the EBSNS space in the
sanctuary of the church, the next project became clear: a permanent exhibit
about Bishop, to complement the historical panels on the pergola. Creating a
permanent exhibit to recognize and celebrate the importance of Great Village
and her maternal family to Elizabeth Bishop is a natural and logical evolution
for the EBSNS. The next post will update on the progress of this project.

Alfred first became involved with the Bishop Society when he
kindly donated a painting to fund-raise for Suzie LeBlanc’s “I am in need of
music” CD project. Suzie auctioned that painting at a gathering she held in Toronto in 2012.

When Alfred kindly offered another paintings in support of
the current project, the EBSNS board was delighted. (The raffle is open only to
Nova Scotians.)

Alfred is a very busy artist with two upcoming exhibits. He is
part of a joint exhibtion at Whetung Ojibwa Centre in Curve Lake,
north of Peterborough, Ontario. This exhibition opens on the long
weekend in May 2017. They have a Facebook page, too.

Friday, April 14, 2017

The Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia has accomplished quite a lot
since it formed in 1994. We have produced annual newsletters, without
interruption (you can read all the back issues on our website). We helped ensure that a significant collection of Bishop family
material was preserved (it is housed at Acadia University Archives: http://openarchive.acadiau.ca/cdm/landingpage/collection/BBHS). We have produced a number of pamphlets, booklets and books. We collaborated
with the Great Village Historical Society to build a pergola in Great Village
on which are eight large panels about the history of the village, including two
about Bishop.

(Pergola in 2007 with its first two (Bishop) panels.

Since
then, six more panels, about the history of Great
Village,have been added. Photo
by Brenda Barry.)

We have hosted nearly yearly special day-long or multi-day
events (talks, concerts, workshops, festivals, Annual General Meetings). This
kind of steady activity reached a peak in 2011 when the EBSNS was a principal
force behind the celebration of Elizabeth Bishop’s Centenary (EB100). After this incredible year, the society worked on several major legacy
projects, including supporting Suzie LeBlanc’s “I am in need of music,” a
Juno-award-winning CD of settings of Bishop poems by Canadian composers. Ms
LeBlanc is the EBSNS’s Honorary Patron.

All of this activity came about because of the strong support
of the volunteer board and community volunteers. The EBSNS has also raised tens
of thousands of dollars during the past two decades for all of these projects
and events. One thing that the EBSNS is especially proud of is how much support
we have given to artists in Great Village, Colchester
County and Nova Scotia in general. The society has also
brought in guest speakers from near and far.

The “Elizabeth Bishop’s Beginnings” exhibit and the “Echoes
of Elizabeth Bishop” art gallery bring together two of the primary missions of
the EBSNS. The first is to celebrate and educate Nova Scotians about Bishop’s
connection to Great
Village and her place in
our cultural history. The second is to support local artists. With this
project, the EBSNS is collaborating with the St. James Church Preservation
Society. This kind of collaboration has been a hall-mark of the EBSNS presence
in the village throughout its existence.

The EBSNS is relying again on the generous support of its
volunteer board. In addition, of course, the society has fund-raised for this
big project. Our first fund-raiser, which we call “Patron of the Exhibit,”
started in October of 2016. As of 9 April 2017, we have raised $2,300.00 from
26 patrons. We will create a plaque listing all our patrons, which will be
included with the exhibit. This fund-raiser will remain active until 30 May
2017. If you are interested in becoming a patron, you can write to the EBSNS at
contactus@elizabethbishopns.org.
The EBSNS extends heartfelt thanks to all those who have supported the project
in this way.

As successful as the “Patron of the Exhibit” is, the society
still needed to raise more money. Ontario
artist Alfred Villeneuve generously donated one of his en plein air paintings of Algonquin Park
for a raffle.

(Summer Zeppelins over Lake of Two
Rivers, 9”x12” — Value $800.00)

The winning ticket will be drawn at our Annual General
Meeting on 17 June 2017, in St. James Church, Great Village, N.S.,
at 3:30 p.m.

Because of the lottery license regulations in Nova Scotia, we are allowed
to sell tickets only to Nova Scotians. Tickets will be on sale until the day of
the AGM. If you are a Nova Scotian and would like to buy tickets email: contactus@elizabethbishopns.org.

Friday, April 7, 2017

The EBSNS turns 23 this year. Perhaps this birthday is not
as big a deal as Canada
150, but the society is proud of its longevity and continuous activity. Our
Annual General Meeting is coming up on Saturday, 17 June 2017, at 1:00 p.m., in
St. James Church in Great Village,
Nova Scotia.

In addition to our usual business, this AGM is special for three
reasons. First, the society will unveil a permanent exhibit about Elizabeth
Bishop, with a small art gallery space, which will feature work by Nova Scotian
artists. This exhibit/gallery space will be located in the sanctuary of St.
James Church, a beautiful heritage building that had profound significance for
Bishop.

(St. James Church, 7 August
2015. Photo by Brenda Barry.)

Second, the EBSNS is delighted to announce that our guest
speaker will be Nova Scotian writer Alexander MacLeod. A long-time Bishop fan
and scholar, Giller Prize nominated MacLeod will read from his own work and
submit himself to an interview with yours truly.

(Alexander MacLeod (l.) and Colm Toibin (r),

at Elizabeth Bishop House, June 2011.)

Third, we will draw for the raffle prize, an en plein air
painting by Ontario
artist Alfred Villeneuve.

Over the next two months, I will post updates about our
progress with the permanent exhibit, detailing what we will present in
“Elizabeth Bishop’s Beginnings.” I will post updates about the “Echoes of
Elizabeth Bishop” art gallery, particularly profiles of the artists involved in
the inaugural exhibition. These profiles will be linked to on the EBSNS
Facebook page. I will also post updates about some of the other activities the
EBSNS is engaged in, as we approach the AGM.

Saturday, April 1, 2017

Soprano Suzie LeBlanc (Honorary Patron of the Elizabeth
Bishop Society of Nova Scotia) will be
presenting her final Cecilia Concert of the 2016–2017 season next Sunday
afternoon at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts in Halifax, N.S.

Massenet, one of the most popular
of the late French Romantics, is well known for many operatic masterpieces and
listeners to this upcoming performance will agree that “Le Jongleur de
Notre-Dame” is no exception to Massenet’s talent for memorable
music and affecting theatre. Bass-baritones Gregory Servant and Jon
Paul Decosse sing the principal male roles, and the opera also features Leander
Mendoza, John Lindsay Botten, and Alan Manchester along with the Opera Nova
Scotia chamber choir. Lynette Wahlstrom is pianist, and Walter H. Kemp
conducts. Suzie LeBlanc tackles the male lead role.

5 September 2017: Nulla dies sine linea

[Today, near the beginning of a new month traditionally associated with the first day of school we begin a new feature to replace the long-running "Today in Bishop." Each day we hope to post a brief reflection on a line from Bishop's poetry, beginning with the title of the first poem in her first book, North & South. We would be happy to have contributions from the Patronage-at-Large, should anyone be so inclined.]

"The Map"

Not simply "Map": abstract, generalized, a concept more than an object, perhaps not even a noun at all, but an imperative, an imperious directive; nor yet "A Map": token of a type, a random example run across by chance, perhaps, on the dusty dark-fumed oak table in the centre of Marks & Co. once-upon-a-time during a long-anticipated visit to 84, Charing Cross Road just prior to its burial beneath a modernist glass tower, where its once-upon-a-place is now marked by a memorial plaque; no, no, no — "The Map" — unique, archetypal, redolent of all that makes it one-and-only, but also a congeries of interwoven metonymies as patterned and abundant as the sixth of the "La Dame à la licorne" Flemish tapestries ("À mon seul désir") or as Vermeer's "De Soldaat en het Lachende Meisje"— or, yet again, as the map in EB's "Primer Class."

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John Barnstead

I retired in 2014 after forty years of teaching Russian language and literature. I'm a past president of the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia.

Sandra Barry

I am a poet, independent scholar, freelance editor, and secretary of the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia.

Suzie LeBlanc

I am a professional singer who recently became a great admirer of Elizabeth Bishop's writing. I am also fond of walking and nature and I became involved with the Elizabeth Bishop Centenary because I wanted to have her poems set to music so that I could sing them.